


Two Partners

by Viridian5



Category: The Sacred Band of Stepsons - Janet Morris, Thieves' World
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, M/M, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-03-21
Updated: 2005-03-21
Packaged: 2017-10-02 11:00:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Viridian5/pseuds/Viridian5
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The more things change the more they remain the same.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Partners

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place after the novel _Storm Seed_. Mentions some events in the Tempus series and _Thieves’ World_ novels. These folks belong to Janet Morris and the _Thieves’ World_ creators. No infringement intended.
> 
> Don’t ask me where this came from aside from my long-held belief that Randal got a raw deal.

As Randal walked the halls of Pinnacle House he tried very hard to keep his temper leashed. Temper would do him no good. No matter how circumstances had changed since he’d made his oath, he’d sworn to be with Niko and the Stepsons until his death. That didn’t change now that the Stepsons inhabited a different world and took on missions in other different worlds, far from anywhere he’d ever known. That didn’t change now that he faced the possibility of immortality, _forever_ fighting someone else’s battles, just and unjust. That didn’t change with Niko being... Niko.

Randal took a deep breath. Thinking of his left-side leader only riled him more.

“Hey, Witchy-ears.” It came from an open door. Inside the room, Strat sat and drank. “Come in. It’s better than drinking alone.”

Strat had become far friendlier to Randal after falling in love with a necromancer, and Randal would welcome friendliness right now. “Better for you maybe.”

“It’s not my fault you can’t hold your liquor.”

“It’s also not my fault that you’re at least three times my size.” Yet Randal sat and took a mug, accepting whatever nasty-smelling stuff Strat poured into it. Maybe someday he could shapeshift in a way that would give him a better capacity for drinking. “Why aren’t you getting drunk with Critias?” From the look on Strat’s face, that was still a sore topic. Hadn’t Crit forgiven him? “Sorry.”

“He said there’s still too much magic between us.”

Randal sipped at his drink and winced at the fire of it. “Which you disprove by inviting _me_ to drink with you?”

Strat’s face showed little emotion, but his eyes were dark. “He’s unfair to you.”

That put a lump in Randal’s throat, that Strat would feel that way and care. “I’m not the most popular Stepson.” Randal was a mage.

“How’s Niko?”

“Wonderful. He forgave me for being a mage again.” For what seemed to be the hundredth time. Alas, it never stuck.

Strat shook his head and lifted his mug. “To partners.”

Randal clinked his to it. Better than drinking from it. “To partners.”

He and Strat were both rightmen, each paired with a thickheaded left-side leader who didn’t trust them. Randal felt that Crit’s lingering ill feelings stemmed as much from Strat creating an emotional bond with someone who wasn’t Crit as that the someone had been a necromancer. Of course, Crit would never admit to that, being too manly and bigoted. Strat loved him in turn but would never think of it that way.

Randal knew his own feelings for Niko but also knew that Niko would never reciprocate. Aside from being a mage, Randal wasn’t pretty, nor was he a girl just coming into her breasts.

“The mission didn’t go well?” Strat asked.

“It had its complications, but the mission was a success. Niko becoming interested in the king’s prepubescent daughter and her reciprocating it was one of the complications.”

“That’s Niko.”

“Yes, it is.”

“We need to get you a whore.”

Randal had unfortunately chosen that moment to take a sip, so he ended up spitting most of the liquor out. Which might actually have been for the best. “I know that no one ever listens when I explain _why_ virginity is a big part of my power, but at least you know about it!”

“It’s stupid.”

“It’s why I haven’t had to trade so much of my soul away to demons in exchange for power, the way many mages do.” He’d also used tools at times--the Nisibisi power globe he’d taken from Wizardwall, the armor and _kris_ given to him by Aškelon--but given them up in the end to avoid the obligations they’d forced on him. Besides, Nisibisi magic always had an acrid, poisonous bite. He’d traded a few small, careful bits of his soul to demons but better trusted the power that came from his own sacrifice.

It relieved him that Roxanne had never thought to have him raped to limit his abilities. He wouldn’t put it past her.

Strat scoffed. “It’s your superstition. You’re the only virgin mage I know.”

“Most people aren’t willing to make the sacrifice.” The power came from the offering of potential. Randal would never have sex or sire children, which meant potential forfeited and power focused. “For me, it wasn’t much of a sacrifice.” He had overlarge ears, a long neck, a lot of freckles, a slight build, and persistent allergies. A few whores had offered to pay for protective charms in trade, but he wanted love, not sex.

Strat looked at him, and Randal knew he was thinking of Randal’s feelings for Niko, as much as Strat disapproved of them. Fortunately for Randal, Niko would never offer no matter how much he enjoyed “educating” virgins. Or if Niko did ever offer--which would never happen--it would only be a brief affair since Niko was utterly incapable of extended monogamy. Randal might love him but also knew his faults in detail and from experience.

Randal was a mage in a mercenary band that hated mages partnered to a man he loved who _really_ hated mages, and Lemuria’s magic gave him and the others an immortality that would enable him to live like that forever or at least until some enemy killed him. Randal took a deep, burning drink of liquor and gasped, “No whores.”

As Strat lifted his mug in toast again, Strat’s look at him was too wise. “To not knowing what you’re missing.”

“I’ll drink to that.”

 

### End


End file.
